School library media education and twenty of the ALA accredited library schools

Abstract

　The seven major competencies which are needed by all media professionals are described in “Certification model for professional school media personnel ” published by the American Library Association in 1976. In terms of these areas of competency, the on-going programs for professional school media personnel are examined in this paper. The programs examined are those listed in the bulletins of twenty of the ALA accredited library schools. There is still too little information to understand fully the present condition of the school library media education in the United States. However some trends may be observed.
　Most library schools have courses in the three following areas of competency: “Administration of media programs”, “Selection of media”, and “Utilization of media”. This is because selecting, organizing, and utilizing audio-visual materials are not new functions of school library /media centers. Compared with these three areas, it seems that courses relating to the other four areas of competency are still lacking in a large number of schools. Half of the twenty random library schools offer one or two courses in “Relation of media to instructional systems” and “Production of media”. Courses relating to the remaining two areas of competency “Research and evaluation” and “Leadership and professionalism”, which are important for developing media professionalism，are found in few schools. In most schools there is a necessity to add courses dealing with these areas.